Pretimer for shutters



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PRETIMEB FOR SHUTTERS QFi l ed Jqne 12, 1 .940

20 w GEORGEEAULENBACHER 24 34 LAWRENCER.M4RTIN 26 INVENTORS 1 BY Patented June 10, 1941 PRETIMER FOR SHUTTERS George E. Aulenbacher and Lawrence R. Martin, Rochester, N. Y., assignors to Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 12, 1940, Serial No. 346,150

(Cl. 16l26) 6 Claims.

This invention relates to photography and more particularly to pretimers for photographic shutters.

One object of our invention is to provide a shutit may be released by the trigger only when the pretimer setting lever has been fully set.

In our present embodiment, the shutter casing I may be provided with the usual shutter ter with a pretiming mechanism which will cause leaves 2, which normally close the aperture 3 in the shutter to make an exposure after a predeterthe shutter through which an exposure is made. mined elapsed time, permitting the operator to T ap ure 3 is m d by t e nn Wa Of n get into the picture. Another object of our inupstanding tubular member t which is usually vention is to provide a pretimer which may be apthreaded to take the front element of an obplied to shutters of the setting type or shutters jective.

of the automatic type, the pretimer in each in- This shutter is of the setting type, althou h it stance being adapted to move the shutter trigger is to be distinctly understood that our invention to make an exposure in the usual manner. Still is equally applicable to an automatic type of shutanother object of our invention is to provide a ter. In the present instance, the shutter includes latch mechanism adapted to retain the pretimer a master member 5, which is mounted to oscilin a set position and to be released by an initial late upon a post 6 through approximately 180. operation of the trigger, which is insufficient to The master member is provided with a spring I make an exposure but which is sufiicient to start which may be tensioned by moving a lever B to the movement of the self-timer, after which the turn the master member 5 about its pivot 6 in a self-timer may in turn move the trigger a disknown manner. The master member carries a tame sufficient to trip the shutter mechanism. stud 9, to which the lever ill is pivotally attached, Still another object of our invention is to provide so that a hook ll may engage an upstanding pin a latch mechanism for releasing the pretimer, I2 on a blade ring fo rocking s ev l b ck d which normally lies in an inoperative position forth to open and close the shutter blades 2 in a with respect to the trigger but which is moved known manner.

into an operative position by means of setting The shutter is provided with a trigger it havthe pretimer, and other objects will appear from ing an a adapted to enga e a latch e eme t the following specification, the novel features be- IS on the master member to hold it in a set posiing particularly pointed out in the claims at the tion, so that when the trigger is depressed, the end thereof. arm I4 being moved about the pivotal support Coming now to the drawing wherein like ref- 11 removes the arm from the latch member l5, erenoe characters denot like parts throughout: permitting the shutter to function.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a shutter provided When it is desired to operate the shutter after with a pretimer embodying a preferred form of a predetermined time interval-as, for instance, our invention, the shutter cover plate having been after an elapse of ten secondsthe pretimer removed. which will now be described is operated in the Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view similar to parts of following manner. The pretimer comprises a ring Fig. 1, but with the shutter trigger in its tripping 20 from which an arm 2i extends outwardly position. through the shutter casing, terminating in a Fig. 3 is a view similar to the preceding figures, handle 22 which may be used to set the pretimer but with the pretimer in position to be released by moving it in the direction shown by the ary the utter trigger. row from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the posi- -f is a View Similar to 2, but Showing tion shown in Fig, 3. This action through the the trigger drawn down into a shutter releasmg gear rack 23 and the pinion 2a Winds. up a spring 5 2 f i g g 3 :3??? ggfiig f g 25 encircling the shaft 26 so that this spring will the shutter showing the shutter lever guide. b fi i i gfi a t spring This application is for an improvement over the 15 p081 lone O I e a m the .dlrectlon photographic shutter with built-in shutter actuanew m There a gear ator Shown in Patent 2,090,070 William train designated broadly as 27 and consisting of Ridden, granted August 17, 1937 Many of the a series of gears connected to turn with pinion 24 parts are ery similar to the parts shown and Connected to operate a Sta-I'Whee]. patent although t releasing mechanism is may oscillate a pallet 29 about its pivot all to preentirely different. In our structure, the pretimer v e ri 26 o oving too fast. The numcan be latched in an operative position, in which ber of gears and the strength of the spring 25,

of course, controls the speed of operation of the pretimer.

As will appear from Fig. 3, when the handle 22 is moved to its set position shown, a latch element positions ready to be released by a depression of the trigger member i3 through a lever member 3.? pivotally connected at 38 to the trigger and having a downwardly projecting arm as provided with an operating end it adapted, through engagement with the lug 35, to slide down between the lug and the latch element and move the latch element 32 about its pivot 33, releasing the lug 3!. This movement, by separating the latch elements at and 32, permits the spring 25 to drive the pretimer ring 23 in a counter-clockwisedirection. At the same time, the downward movement of the triggerlever 39 islimited by thelug El and the notch I32, as best shown in Fig. 5, so that latch elements 3! and 32 are released.

When this release takes place, the trigger lev r 39 is moved by cam as to release lug iii fi Jlil notch 62; best indicated in 5-, the cam hook 6t pulls on lever 33 as lug 5i rides up cam 63 actuatin the shutter and slipping the cam hook it. There is an upstanding 45 which projects into the path of a hook ft, carried by the ring is, and there an oppositely disposed lug 4? which forms a support for a spring 48 which always tends to thrust the lever 39 radially toward the center of the shutter. Ihus, the lug 8icarried by lever and the lug l5 always tend to move in a counter-clochwis direction.

With the present form of our invention, it will be noted that the handle 22 must be moved to its fully set position shown in 3 before the latch elements 3! and 32 become engaged to hold it ina position of rest. Thus, operator is assured of the full time of ten seconds (or whatever predetermined time may have been selected in designing the pretimer) before the s. utter willbe actuated.

()ur shutter pretimer, like the device shown in U. S. Patent 2,090,070, may be equipped wi h a safety lever 53 provided with a latch element 5! lying in the path of alug 52, carried by ring 25, so-that these cooperating latch elements prevent the handle 22 from being operated to set the pretimer unless the shutter has bee set by moving the lever 8 to tension the spring '5. i-lewever, this forms no part of our present invention, [but is convenient in cases where a setting type of shutter is employed.

It should be noticed from the above escription, and it can also be readily seen from Fig. 1, that when the pretimer is in its inoperative position of rest, the operating end 59 of the lever 33, attached to the trigger S3, is positioned the projection 46, so that the end 58 rides on the outside of the latching element 32 thus swings downwardly beyond the latch element without operating it, because the latch element rests against an inner flange 66 of the ring 2t and is thus in an inoperative position. However, just as soon as the handle 22 is moved to set the parts, they reach the position shown in Fig. 3, in which the latch element 32 has been moved outwardly so that it will engage the latch element 3| and also so that it will lie in the path of the operating end it of the lever 37. Thus, the tripping lever 32 for the pretimer is normally in an inoperative position but moves to an operative position as soon as the pretimer is set. This greatly reduces the amount of wear and the number of operations which the tripping lever 32 would otherwise have to make and at the same time it permits the trigger E3 to operate freely without moving unnecessary parts when the shutter is to be operated in a normal manner.

What we claim is:

1. In a photographic shutter, the combination with shutter mechanism including a master member, shutter blades, operable connections between the blades and master member, of a trigger for releasing the master member for making an exposure, a lever attached to the trigger and normally spring-pressed radially of the shutter, a pretimer mechanism including a retarded and spring-driven member against which the lever is spring pressed, a hook on said spring-driven member for engaging and moving the lever to trip the shutter, a latch element carried by the shutter, a latch on the springdriven member for engaging said latch element for holding the spring-driven member in a tensioned position, a handle for setting the springdriven member to tension the spring, and cooperating parts on the spring-driven member and trigger lever for guiding the lever into or out of tripping engagement with the latch according to the relative position of the parts.

2. In a photographic shutter, the combination with shutter mechanism including a master member, shutter blades, operable connections between the blades and master member, of a trigger for releasing the master member for making an exposure, a lever attached to the trig-.

ger and normallyspring pressed radially of the shutter, a pretimer mechanism including a retarded and spring-driven member against which the lever is spring-pressed, a hook on said springriven member for engaging and moving the lever to trip the shutter, a latch element carried by the shutter, a latch on the spring-driven member for engaging said latch element for holding the spring-driven member in 'a tensioned position, a handle for setting the spring-driven member to tension the spring, a lug on the spring-driven member positioned to engage and normally hold the latch element carried by the lever attached to the trigger out of engagement with the latch for the spring-driven member, whereby the shutter may be normally operated without moving said latch.

3. In a photographic shutter, the combination with shutter mechanism including a master member, shutter blades, operable connections between the blades and master member, of a trigger for releasing the master member for making an exposure, a lever attached to the rigger and normally spring pressed radially of the shutter, a pretimer mechanism including a retarded and spring-driven member against which the lever is spring pressed, a hook on said spring-driven member for engaging and moving the lever to trip the shutter, a latch element carried by the shutter, a latch on the spring-driven member for engaging said latch element for holding the spring-driven member in a tensioned position, a handle for setting the spring-driven member to tension the spring, a lug on the spring-driven member positioned to engage and normally hold the latch element carried by the lever attached to the trigger out of engagement with the latch for the springdriven member, said lug being movable with the spring-driven member to expose the said latch to operation by the lever attached to the trigger.

4. In a photographic shutter, the combination with shutter mechanism including a master member, shutter blades, operable connections between the blades and master member, of a trigger for releasing the master member for making an exposure, a lever attached to the trigger and normally spring pressed radially of the shutter, a pretimer mechanism including a retarded and spring-driven member against which the lever is spring pressed, a hook on said spring-driven member for engaging and moving the lever to trip the shutter, a latch element carried by the shutter, a latch on the springdriven member for engaging said latch element for holding the spring-driven member in a tensioned position, a handle for setting the springdriven member to tension the spring, a lug on the spring-driven member positioned to engage and normally hold the latch element carried by the lever attached to the trigger out of engagement with the latch for the spring-driven member, said lug being movable with the springdriven member to expose the said latch to operation by the lever attached to the trigger, the shape of the latch elements on the spring-driven element and on the shutter casing limiting the movement of the trigger when said latch is exposed.

5. In a photographic shutter, the combination with shutter mechanism including a master member, shutter blades, operable connections between the blades and master member, of a trigger for releasing the master member for making an exposure, a lever attached to the trigger and normally spring pressed radially of the shutter, a pretimer mechanism including a retarded and spring-driven member against which the lever is spring pressed, a hook on said spring-driven member for engaging and moving the lever to trip the shutter, a latch element carried by the shutter, a latch on the spring-- driven member for engaging said latch element for holding the spring-driven member in a tensioned position, a handle for setting the springdriven member to tension the spring, a lug on the spring-driven member positioned to engage and normally hold the latch element carried by the lever attached to the trigger out of engagement with the latch for the spring-driven member, said lug being movable with the springdriven member to expose the said latch to opera-- tion by the lever attached to the trigger, the lug being also positioned to engage and move the lever attached to the trigger for moving the trigger to release the shutter.

6. In a photographic shutter, the combination with a shutter mechanism including a master member, shutter blades, operable connections between the blades and master member, of a trigger for releasing the master member for making an exposure, a lever attached to the trigger and normally spring-pressed radially oi the shutter, a pretimer mechanism including a retarded and spring-driven member against which the lever is spring pressed, a hook on said spring-driven member for engaging and moving the lever to trip the shutter, a latch element carried by the shutter, a latch on the springdriven member for engaging said latch element for holding the spring-driven member in a tensioned position, a handle for setting the springdriven member to tension the spring, and means carried by the spring-driven member for positioning said latch element carried by the shutter into an exposed latching position, in which it may be operated by the lever carried by the shutter trigger only when the spring-driven member is positioned to tension its driving spring.

GEORGE E. AULENBACHER. LAWRENCE R. MARTIN. 

